Hassan says Lifton’s book was critical to helping understand what had happened to him in terms of his recruitment into the Moonies and their indoctrination methods.

See thesevideos in which Dr. Robert Jay Lifton talks with Steven Hassan about these and other issue.

Based on Lifton’s model of thought control, Hassan developed his BITE model:

Destructive mind control can be understood in terms of four basic components, which form the acronym BITE:

Behavior Control

Information Control

Thought Control

Emotional Control

It is important to understand that destructive mind control can be determined when the overall effect of these four components promotes dependency and obedience to some leader or cause.

It is not necessary for every single item on the list to be present. Mind controlled cult members can live in their own apartments, have nine-to-five jobs, be married with children, and still be unable to think for themselves and act independently. – Source: Mind Control – The BITE Model, Steve Hassan, Freedom of Mind

For the complete model, see this article on the Freedom of Mind web site.